I've got a German Ale kit that came with Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale. I was out of town last week so I didn't have a chance to make a starter. The pack was also about 6 months old in the fridge after having been shipped ground a long way. 48 hours later, it's done the same thing Ringwood Ale does to everyone... the pack only swelled slightly, and I have an absolutely silent fermenter.

Before learning about 1187's sleepy tendencies, and having to go to the LHBS in any case yesterday, I bought another fresh pack and made a starter and having been on the stirplate for a day it's got some pretty good activity. I used amber DME and have about 0.3 gallons worth of starter.

Should I pitch the new starter? Doesn't seem like it could hurt that much since it's nearly ready and the fermenter has zero activity... Thanks!

Temperature plays a big role in yeast lag time. I don't have any personal experience with that particular yeast, but if you've heard it's a slow starter, it'll probably take off on its own. There's a sticky here that talks about fermentation taking up to 72 hours to kick off. Lots of good info there, I suggest reading through it. But if you already have a starter ready for it, and no other brews to use it on, I don't see a problem with adding it. Might as well toss it in.

6 months is pretty old, quite a bit of the cells would have died off during that time. I say go ahead and pitch the starter. The few viable cells you originally pitched are probably working their ass off to get the population up, hence the lag.